Ryan Edwards was sentenced to one year in prison on Thursday, April 20 after pleading guilty to harassment charges made by his estranged wife Mackenzie Edwards. The Teen Mom star, 35, appeared in Hamilton County Court and pled guilty to the charges againt him. Judge Starnes gave him a bit of tough love following the sentence. “He needs to grow up, you know that. You have three kids. You may have some problems with your wife, but you have three kids,” Starnes told Ryan, before adding, “I’m trying to save your life.”
The Tennessee native, who shares son Bentley, 14, with ex Maci Bookout and son Jagger, 4, and daughter Stella, 3, with Mackenzie, has had a string of bad luck with the law lately, as he was arrested in early April for violating his parole. He had been arrested on March 1 and charged with harassing Mackenzie just a few days after she had filed for divorce. Mackenzie was granted both a restraining order and temporary custody of their children at the time of filing.
When Ryan appeared in court on March 14 and entered the initial guilty plea for the harassment charge, Judge Starnes dropped most of his charges stemming from his previous arrests – including stalking, possession of drug paraphernalia and violating a protection order. The judge also ordered Ryan to have no contact with Mackenzie, nor post about her on social media, and to also wear a GPS monitor.
Ryan was also ordered to rehab, which he skipped out on early, which led to the April 7 arrest. And because he failed to complete his six-month rehab stint, Starnes reinstated his 11 months and 29 days prison sentence on Thursday.
“I’m going to revoke probation for 11 months and 29 days in custody,” Starnes told Ryan in court, per The Sun. “At some point, I may send you to rehab. You won’t do it now. It’s because the drug addiction is so strong. You can’t do it. You have to grow up and want to save yourself. I’m going to do what I can to save you.”
Ryan is due back in court on June 12 for the DUI and drug possession charges involved with his April 7 arrest.